~Mother says gun discharged during desperate struggle; stolen vehicle later recovered in Agrément.~
MARIGOT:--- The mother at the center of Thursday’s terrifying armed carjacking in Marigot is speaking out to correct earlier information suggesting that the assailant drove away without realizing her six-year-old daughter was inside the vehicle.
According to the mother, who requested that her identity be withheld, the armed man knew that the child was inside. She said she repeatedly told him about her daughter, but he continued with the attack and ultimately drove away with the child still in the vehicle.
“The man knew my daughter was inside the car,” the mother told SMN News. “I told him repeatedly that my child was in the vehicle. I kept telling him, and he still continued.”
The mother, who works in Concordia, said the incident occurred at about 5:20 p.m. in front of her workplace on Thursday, September 10, as she was leaving work and preparing to go home with her daughter.
She said the assailant opened the door of her grey Hyundai Tucson while armed and demanded that she get out of the vehicle and hand over her keys and mobile phone.
The mother refused to leave because her daughter was already seated inside.
“I told him my daughter was in the car and that I would not get out without my child,” she explained. “He did not want to hear that.”
Gun Discharged During Struggle
According to the mother, the confrontation escalated when the assailant pointed the firearm toward her abdomen. She reacted instinctively and grabbed his hand and the weapon.
During the struggle, the gun was discharged.
“The gun went off while I was fighting for my child,” she said. “Had I not reacted and grabbed it, I do not know what the outcome would have been.”
The mother said there is a bullet mark on the ground at the scene of the attack. She initially believed the grey firearm might have been a toy, but the discharge made it clear that the weapon was real.
People reportedly emerged from nearby abandoned houses after hearing her screams. The sudden appearance of witnesses startled the assailant, and both he and the mother fell during the struggle.
The mother said she landed with her back toward the gunman and raised her hands.
“I told him that if he had to shoot me, shoot me in my leg or my butt, but let my child go,” she recalled.
She then heard the firearm click a second time but said it apparently failed to discharge. The assailant then entered the vehicle and drove away with her six-year-old daughter still inside.
Child ordered out of moving nightmare
The mother said the assailant drove only a short distance before ordering the child out of the vehicle.
According to the child’s account to her mother, the assailant was attempting to locate the mother’s mobile phone inside the car. The phone fell behind the driver’s seat, after which the man shouted at the six-year-old to get out.
The child opened the door herself, exited the vehicle, and ran back toward her mother while still wearing her green school uniform.
The mother said she had been screaming for help and pointing toward the fleeing vehicle, but motorists kept driving past.
“My feet went numb. I could not run or move. I fainted in the middle of the road,” she said. “When I got back up, I saw my daughter running toward me.”
Vehicle Tracked and Recovered
The stolen Hyundai Tucson was recovered on Friday in Agrément after the mother used Google’s phone-location service on her computer to track the mobile phone that remained inside the vehicle.
She took a screenshot of the location and sent it to someone she knew within the municipal police. The information was then passed to the authorities, who located the vehicle at the position indicated by the tracking application.
The Gendarmerie asked the mother for the spare key and recovered the vehicle, which was held overnight before being returned to her.
The mother said she does not know whether anyone has been arrested.
Mother rejects claim assailant was unaware of child
SMN News’ earlier report was based on information provided by the Colonel of the Gendarmerie, who said the thief realized after driving several dozen meters that a child was inside and then ordered her out.
The mother, however, strongly disputes any suggestion that the assailant was initially unaware of her daughter’s presence.
She said she repeatedly warned him that her child was inside while she physically resisted his demands and fought to prevent him from taking the vehicle.
“That distinction is extremely important because it changes the seriousness of what actually happened,” she said. “I did not simply watch someone take my vehicle. I fought because my child was inside while an armed man was threatening me.”
The mother stressed that she is not speaking publicly for attention or publicity. She wants residents to understand the growing level of delinquency and insecurity confronting families in Saint-Martin.
She was leaving work in broad daylight and thinking about what she would prepare for her daughter’s dinner when an ordinary journey home became a potentially deadly encounter.
“This is no joke,” she said. “It could happen to anyone in broad daylight.”
The mother said she is now focused on helping her daughter cope with the trauma while trying to remain strong through her faith.
SMN News is publishing her firsthand account to correct the earlier suggestion that the assailant did not know the child was inside the vehicle. The Gendarmerie remains in charge of the investigation.
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